Superman: Father of Tomorrow

#5A

Danny Earls Regular

Release:	Sep 23, 2026
Cover:	Nov 2026

Creators

Writer	Kenny Porter
Artist	Danny Earls
Cover Artist	Danny Earls
Cover Colorist	Nick Filardi
Colorist	Nick Filardi

---

A while back, I wrote a Short Box about the first issue of an Elseworlds tale focusing on an alternate version of Superman’s cousin, but around the same time, another mini-series featuring another relative of the Man of Steel launched.

At the time, I picked the Supergirl story to write about because I found the opening of it a bit more intriguing than this story about Superman’s father Jor-El, and also because it was meant to be the “Summer of Supergirl,” though, sadly, that didn’t prove to be the case at the box office.

But I decided to take a look at this title – and this issue in particular – because we finally get the answer to a question that the first issue raised.

The set-up for this story is that Jor-El is the sole survivor of Krypton’s destruction and arrives on Earth where he’s taken in by the Kents who pass him off as Jonathan Kent’s brother Jordan. We learn that Lara and Kal-El died on Krypton, but we don’t see how, exactly, their deaths came about.

After being taken in, Jor-El opts to avoid interfering with life on Earth, choosing to just stick to the farm and put his powers and genius to work helping out his new family. That is, until Jonathan dies from a heart attack and Jor-El realizes that if he’d done more for the world the hospital might have had the technology to save the life of the man who had been his brother.

And so Jor-El becomes Superman, using not only his amazing powers but also his genius to help the people of the world. Unfortunately, every scientific marvel he provides invariably gets turned into a weapon, and there are many people, like General Sam Lane, and Jor-El’s former protege, Lex Luthor, who are working against him.

In this issue, things come to a head with both Luthor – who has become a master of the mystic arts – and Lane – who has become something of a walking nuclear bomb – but that’s not what I found most interesting. As Jor-El wallows in self-pity about his repeated failures, he finally confides in Martha, telling her the full story of the death of his wife and son.

After realizing that that there was no hope of convincing the Science Council that Krypton was doomed, he and Lara set to work on building a ship that they could use to escape with Kal-El. Unfortunately, while Jor-El was doing some additional tinkering with the ship – tinkering that required turning off some of the safety protocols – Krypton’s doom came early.

The tremors triggered the ship’s launch sequence and as he was unable to prevent the launch all he could do was watch Lara and Kal-El, trapped outside the ship, die.

He blames himself for their deaths just as he blames himself for all of the problems that have arisen on Earth since he became Superman. There’s a bitter irony in the fact that what he does best – fixing things – is what has been the source of so much tragedy for him. This obsessive need to fix everything ultimately breaks everything.

Martha, being Martha, manages to talk him out of his funk, and he sets off to do what he does best and fix the problem of both Luthor and Lane, but while the need to fix everything may be his fatal flaw, it’s Luthor’s fatal flaw – his ego – and Sam Lane’s fatal flaw – his xenophobia – that may destroy everything as we close on a cliffhanger in anticipation of the final issue.

I’ve been enjoying this mini a lot, but this was the best issue so far due entirely to that moment of vulnerability with Martha.

It’s interesting to see General Sam Lane take a demotion – at least with his codename – to become Captain Atom, and to see some of the other familiar-yet-unfamiliar faces that pop up, though I have to say that this version of Lex Luthor feels more than a bit derivative of Dr. Doom.

I’m not familiar with Danny Earls, but his art works well for the story. I do wish that some more imagination had gone into the design of some of the alternate takes on other DC characters, but I have no major complaints beyond that, and I’m looking forward to the conclusion.

---

---